Bought a PSP

As my long time readers are aware, I have been looking at console games recently. If you aren't aware but want to be, read this post.

In that post I talked mostly about buying a a Nintendo Wii. The Wii is still a rare system, Nintendo is having a lot of trouble keeping up with demand. I guess that's good for them.

I was recently at a friend's house and was shown a copy of Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron, which is only available on the Sony PSP. I really hadn't seen much on the PSP. I'll admit that consoles are new to me, except for my venerable GBA SP. The PSP was quite light, bright and impressive for such a small device.

A couple of days ago I tripped over a "new" game: Warhammer 40k: Squad Command. Well ... I thought it was new. The videos of it out on YouTube had me under the impression that it wasn't even released in the States yet. It pays to look at the date a video was published on YouTube and to do a little further research. Turns out the game was released here last fall. It can now be had for $20. I've long been in love with the Warhammer 40k universe and the video games released for it have often been quite good.

So, between these two games, I was drooling!

I talked with the wife. I still hadn't bought a console and have been talking about it since Xmas. We went out and bought me a PSP last night.

I've been having fun with it. One of the things I love is that the games are cheap to begin with. The newest games aren't $60, they're $40. Plus, there is a whole line of "Greatest Hits" games that are $15 to $20 bucks! Last night I didn't buy SWB:RS, it's $40. I did buy Star Wars Battlefront II and Grand Theft Auto Vice City Stories. Those two games cost me less than the one Star Wars game. I haven't played either of these games, so it's all new fun territory for me.

I do plan to follow up these purchases with the Warhammer 40k game and with Dungeons & Dragons Tactics - also $20 bucks!

Web Games

As any long time reader of this site can tell you - I loves me some freebies!

There are a few good web games growing up that you should be aware of. Both of the following games are free to play, but they have pay options as well. They both have some graphical elements, but are not heavily reliant on those. And, they are both a ton of fun.


First, we have TinyWarz. TW has grown and grown since I started over a year ago. They have just gone through a serious improvement to the graphical elements of the game. In TinyWarz you build an army, then take that army out to fight off bandits and other players in a real time, turn based environment. It's a heck of a lot of fun. There are hundreds of vehicles and 'mechs to research, build and add to your army. You can join guilds, chat in real time and socialize on the boards. In short a lot of fun for very little to no monetary investment. However, investing some cash does have its rewards and there are several ways to get that cash - check out the RewardGamer section in-game.


Recently, I have found Travian. As far as I can tell, this game is hosted out of Europe somewhere - I apologize for my ignorance. I've spent too much time playing the game and not enough time researching it! This idea is a little more old school. You choose a race - I like the Romans. Then you begin growing your village. You increase the number and efficiency of your production facilities, then you add buildings and eventually you raise an army. Along the line you can start other villages or take over villages from other players. It's like a fast, lite version of Civ. It's my hope that they will add more elements to the game as demand grows.

Get out there and have a good time on the web!

Wii Feel Xboxed

No one can find a Wii to buy - and for me, that might be a good thing.

So, before Xmas and after the first of the year, I worked a truckload of overtime. At one point (thus, the lack of posts to this blog!). My wife sought to reward me for being a very good boy and killing myself for a job I'm not entirely in love with. She said I should buy myself something really nice. I had gotten some great stuff for Xmas. I was really tired. Between those two facts I couldn't really think of anything I wanted.

My wife, the sworn non-gamer, says to me: "Why don't you buy yourself a Wii?"

Ding!

This was a great idea. I had long been looking at the Nintendo Wii. The Wii is less expensive than the other systems, it's backwards compatible - able to play Game Cube games and the philosophy behind the controller and the system is much more casual, group oriented and - let's face it - fun!

I started doing a little research. It's not just backwards compatible to the Game Cube, you can also download lots of games from older systems. That's very cool. And, I didn't realize how many Star Wars themed games I had missed - that was very cool. There are also two new games I was very interested in: MySims - a Sims game aimed at kids and Star Trek: Conquest - wow! Awesome looking game. I was impressed.

Of course, I have been trying to find a Wii at normal price. They sold out at Xmas and no one has had one since - at least not any I have been able to find.

While I'm looking for a Wii, another brilliant fact comes to light. Now, since I have never owned a console, I usually don't pay attention to what console is getting what game and when. I also just figure that I won't buy a game until it has been out for more than a year - because I refuse to pay $60 for a game. Remember, I'm terribly cheap.

However, I have been very excited by a game project that has been in the news for quite a while. And, then I saw that indeed this game was going to be released for the Wii. That's right, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, will be released for the Wii! For the first time in my life, I was ready to plunk down full price for a pre-order! Totally new feeling for me!

Then the bad news.

One of the reasons that the Wii is smaller in size and less expensive is that it isn't as capable as the Xbox 360 and PS2. Have a look at this Vanity Fair article for system details and details on why Force Unleashed is such an awesome game. The executive summary: the game will be released on the Wii, but in a modified, not nearly as cool form.

This I'm used to. For years, even when they released games for the Mac, they were not as good. That doesn't happen as much these days. The only real console I've ever owned is the Game Boy. They often release games for Game Boy with the same names that are way less capable or cool - no shock as this is a hand-held system.

Do I want to spend $250 for a pre-crippled system? Do I want to spend nearly $500 dollars for a "normal" game system? I mean, I just bought a new laptop for $499. I can't bring myself to spend that much money for just a console. I can't bring myself to buy a system that's less capable than others on the market. I mean, seriously, I can buy a brand new Game Cube for $100 if I want a lesser system. I can upgrade my Game Boy from an SP to a DS for less than the price of a Wii.

I just can't do it.

So, I'll be waiting for the Mac version of the Force Unleashed … but I won't be holding my breath.

WoW Unethical?

Independent game designer Johnathan Blow has an interesting opinion. I heartily agree.

Mr. Blow says:

"It's considered best practice: schedule rewards for your player so that they don't get bored and give up on your game. That's actually exploitation."

He feels that games like World of Warcraft string players along with minor rewards through terrible game play. He feels this exploits the player - who is paying for this after all.

This is true. If I were approached by a GM who told me he wanted me to run around collecting leather and animal body parts to get random minor upgrades to my character - I would politely excuse myself and run for the horizon! Yet, I pay $15 a month to sit in front of my computer and do just that.

Early on in RPGs, this problem was encountered and, in my opinion, conquered. Players complained that games were basically running around a dungeon, killing monsters, taking their stuff and gaining levels. This was handled by making games more complex. Giving players more options. Opening up new game worlds like horror, sci-fi, espionage, etc. also gave depth to player options. Now, a game is as simple or as complex as a GM and players want it to be. It can be simple hack and slash, high fantasy, galaxy spanning space opera or anything else players desire.

Massively Multi-player games need to take a page from RPGs. Current schemes will work for a while, but gamers will get bored. Game designers who add new ways to play to their games will attract players who are bored with other games. This happened in the RPG world. Dungeons and Dragons was called boring more than once. Other games flourished from players looking for something new and different. D&D survived as a property to this day by updating their structure, broadening the game's scope and building a strong community. Today, D&D is a leader in the gaming world.

WoW will need to find new ways for gamers to play if they want to remain on the market. Constantly bumping up the level cap will only work for so long. I am already seeing chinks in the armor - Blizzard is now offering free play time to players who bring other players back to the game.

Blizzard is making in-roads to building new ways to play and form community. They have just released a patch to allow voice chat, thus improving the social aspect of the game. The next major release will add new game features.

However, I don't feel this is enough. Blizzard needs to add depth to the game. Find ways to have more player driven adventure - perhaps allowing individual players hire NPCs to raid local towns. Allowing players to build farms and other buildings. Allow players to set up shops in unused buildings. Allowing players to play more than a handful of races, classes and professions. I feel they need to do this sooner rather than later.

As an example, I have found a flash game that allowed a player to play a Murloc in a very WoW-like environment. After playing that - I wanted to connect to WoW and set up a mighty Murloc warrior!

WoW and the MassMOG world are in their infancy. They will go through the same or similar growing pains as the RPG industry has experienced. My hope is that someday, Massively Multi-player games will be as rich and deep as any current table top RPG. This way, I will be able to stop writing for my friends and just play!

The End of the Industry?

The debate has waged for decades, maybe since the industry came to be.

Every few years, sales of Role Playing games dies off. Then, something comes along to reinvigorate the industry. When I was in college, it seemed like the industry was in its last days. Then along came a little company from the Pacific Northwest with a little card game. Magic the Gathering players moved from collecting cards to collecting RPG books and the industry was alive again.

When I was a kid, the industry revolved around D&D. The media and people on the Religious Right set D&D as the main target of their agendas. TSR suffered, it probably never recovered. Many thought role playing would die off. I remember having conversations with people older than I at that time. I was just getting into the hobby and I wondered how others felt about it. I ran into several young adults who claimed to have played D&D once or twice. They were almost embarrassed to admit it in the light of all the media hubbub. I meet young adults now who admit they played a game or two of Magic. They, too, seem almost embarrassed.

Up until just recently, I usually explained to people that I was a role player almost as if I was making my own apology. "Yeah, I'm one of those D&D playing freaks" I would say, even though it had been years since I picked up a d20. D&D was the only RPG the masses knew, thanks to the bad press in the 80s and 90s.

These days, things are a little different. Everyone I know, including family members who looked at me funny for playing D&D, plays World of Warcraft! Okay, not everyone, but huge numbers of people. In my day, WoW would have been dismissed as hack and slash and not worth a gamer's time. So many people own Xboxes and Play Stations - if they aren't playing WoW, they are home playing Halo. Let's face it, Halo is just more hack and slash - but with guns.

Today, it's almost as if I have come out of the closet. I admit in, well, mixed company, if you will, that I am a role player. I likes me some GURPS! People still look at me funny, so I have to explain that it's like WoW or Halo except with paper, pencils and dice. Sometimes I have to go so far as to explain it's like D&D - that usually gets them to nod their heads. But, I don't get the same reaction I got when I was 25. At that age, it almost seemed liked people were sniffing me to see if I had recently showered, or they looked at what I was wearing, expecting Doritos stained tee shirts or something. I didn't live in my parent's basement, playing D&D by candle light - that came later! But people really did have an image: cultist. That image has changed a bit.

Many still think the industry is on the out. I don't think so. Geekly hobbies have been a growing trend for the last decade or more. As video games become more like paper RPGs and as table top gaming becomes more like video games, I think we will see new players. Players who want to do more than shoot at their friends and run around looking for ore and troll ears.

Already, Wizards has announced new electronic features for D&D 4th edition. If you haven't yet, click on our link to Dungeons and Dragons there on the right. You will see links off their main page about the new features in 4th ed. It's an hour well spent for those of us concerned about the future of the hobby.

For those of you looking for a way to make a mint off the Internet and gaming in general - there has to be a way to take the 3D gaming environment being proposed and use it more generically. As in, what if I want to play in a sci-fi or supers game? Setting up an SF street scene or the lair of an mad scientist would be great! If someone can come up with that and not restrict it to one game system - they will make the big dollars!

I think a lot of this can be done already. There are plenty of ways to chat on the Internet and there are ways to make electronic copies of character sheets and there are ways to share documents. A devoted enough group could set up an online game and I think they could have a great time. It would take some work, but I think it could be done. Give it a try and let us know what happened.

An Unholy Union

Sometimes I think people are running out of ideas.

I, like many gamers in my generation, started off playing D&D. I watched it evolve, albeit slowly. I was shocked by d20 - open source role playing. Intriguing. But, in all honesty, a long time player can look at d20 and see the layers. You see where D&D began and you can see where they added elements on top of the out-dated system. It may be true that d20 is the most popular system out there, but that's like saying Intel is the most popular computer chip. Both are the best sellers - but they are not the best on the market, merely the most used.

I've played plenty of other games, used plenty of other systems. I have my favorites. When I started playing White Wolf's Story Teller system, I didn't get it. It was too lite. I got that they wanted the players to worry more about role playing and less about rules - but I felt that the rules were just, well, not there. Now I get it - the rules were "not there" on purpose. If you were not acting as a rules lawyer, you had more time to think about the actions and motivations of your character. After playing for a while, I usually just stashed my character sheet and role played - really role played. It was quite liberating.

I see now that White Wolf has produced a version of the World of Darkness (WoD) for the d20 system: Monte Cook's World of Darkness.

This I do not get at all! White Wolf already has a working system. d20 already has plenty of books that you could use to run a WoD-like game. Do they really think the average person is going to shell out $50 for this book?

Okay, I want it understood that I haven't actually seen a copy of this book. I only found out about it a few days ago and I only have the advertising copy to go by - but I already have lots of doubt. Let's start with said copy:

"Dead souls returned to claim living bodies, creating blood-drinking undead fiends: vampires. Bestial spirits came as well, to create werewolves, and demons formed bodies from worldly matter. Magic crashed back into the world, and mages wield its power for whatever purpose suits them. Humans called the Awakened unknowingly keep the darkness at bay. These supernatural creatures struggle against each other and clash in the shadows ..."

Shadows ... you mean like Shadowrun? It's vampires and demons instead of trolls and dragons! Am I the only one seeing that? Instead of porting over the immensely rich World of Darkness to d20 - it sounds to me like they are reinventing the wheel and failing in the process.

For $50 bucks, I think you could do a lot more with your money. For example, if you must have d20 - and there's nothing wrong with that - hit eBay or Amazon or Half Price Books and buy a used copy of d20 Modern. I see it for about $20, which leaves room for a d20 Monster book - at less than $10 bucks used. There, I just saved you $10 to $15 even after shipping. Heck, grab d20 Call of Cthulhu and drive your characters insane! It's $50 and it, too, is written by Monte Cook!

I personally think you would do better with new or used copies of the WoD books. Amazon has the World of Darkness and Vampire: The Requiem hardcovers, new, for $40, you will qualify for free shipping, too. Your local used shop will have them even cheaper.

If you want my favorite, or if you just have to have lots of rules to lawyer over, you'll need to look a little harder. Start with the GURPS Basic Set, 3rd Edition or 4th Edition - whichever you prefer. Then, go looking for GURPS Vampire: The Masquerade. It's out of print, but you can find plenty of used copies out there. There are a few other GURPS/White Wolf books, but I leave it as an exercise for the reader to go find them. I bet you could put together quite the collection of used GURPS books for $50!

I guess you could also just wait a year for this $50 book to hit the shelves of your local used book store. It might almost be worth $25 bucks at Half Price books.

To sum up, I think the RPG industry, if it's going to survive, will need to do more than take a well known brand, affix it to a questionable premise, bolt that to a kludgey rule set and then over charge for the package.